Chapter 5 looks at funeral denial and perversion in Statius’ Thebaid. The discussion of these motifs in Statius’ poem focuses on Creon’s funeral abnegation decree at Thebaid 11.661-4. This point marks the official moment when death rites are denied, but the theme has been building steadily over the course of the epic. The chapter also considers a series of bizarre funeral perversions, particularly the funerals for the fallen Argive leaders, all of whom receive a warping of traditional rites. It examines also the role of women and their attempts to provide funerals for their loved ones, specifically Hypsipyle, Argia and Antigone, and the Argive women. The final section details Iris’ ‘preservation’ of the dead Argive leaders, and the strange case of Maeon’s corpse in book 3.